Family Above All

77. Awake

No pairing

Mystic Falls, Virginia

Friday, April 13, 2012

"That wasn't so bad. I thought it would be more difficult to open," Ric said, wiping the sweat from his face with his dirty hand. They had gotten Fell blood from Meredith and had little trouble opening the old vault. "Now, let's see what we have here."

George and Liz helped push the heavy door open. They all coughed and backed up.

"Dusty," Liz choked, swiping away clouds of dust.

"Mom, let me go in," Caroline said.

"Honey, I don't even like you being here. Take a flashlight," Liz said, recovering. But Caroline pushed the door open as George shone the flashlight over the vault area.

"Holy smokes. Would ya look at that?" George said, whistling. There were boxes of crossbows, knifes, swords, and crates of every weapon imaginable.

"Whoa, this looks like a katana," Ric said excitedly, reaching for the sword. "What were the founders preparing for? A war?"

"Pretty much. Just a war with vampires," Liz answered, shining her own flashlight at the trove. "Caroline, can you start moving this stuff upstairs please? I know you can see, but it's pretty dark for the rest of us. We'll go through it upstairs."

"Sure, Mom," Caroline said, picking up a heavy box. "Load a couple more on here for me. It's like I'm picking up a feather."

"Must be nice," George smiled, picking up another box for her load.

"Yeah, it's not bad, if you don't mind drinking blood," Caroline retorted sweetly.

"Ah, I think I'll pass on that," George said, grabbing a box for himself to bring up. "but I'll give you a hand here."

As they left, Ric said to Liz. "Liz, look at this bell! What do you make of that?"

Ric nudged his flashlight under his chin. The large bell looked like it had been cast long ago for maybe a church tower.

"Ric, I haven't been completely honest," Liz admitted sheepishly. "How far have you gotten in the archives?"
"Not that far with everything going on. What aren't you telling me, Sheriff?" Ric asked, examining the symbols on the heavy bell.

"I pulled that out of the river when we found Grayson and Miranda's car off of the Wickery Bridge. I had it brought here and I hoped we would never need it," Liz said in a quivering voice. "It's called the Founder's Bell."

"Of course it is," Ric said, adjusting his flashlight. "Tell me more."

"It's said to be forged by the devil himself on the night the hundred witches were sacrificed. It can send 'demons' back to hell but only a certain bloodline can ring it," Liz started. "Creepy story, huh?"

"Whose bloodline?" Ric asked suspiciously.

Liz bit her lip. "A Maxwell's blood."
"Maxwell? I see that name engaged on the bell but there aren't any Maxwell's that I know of here," Ric said, leaning down to look at the name more closely.

"It's kind of a secret," Liz said in a rush. "Kelly switched their names back to her maiden name after he left when the kids were babies, but Peter Maxwell is the name of their father."

"That's interesting," Ric said. "But where are the parents? I mean, the dad running off is one thing, but the mom? That's pretty harsh."

Liz sighed, "I know, I know. It's awful, but I think Kelly Donovan never really grew up. The point is that if there is anything to this whole myth, Matt is probably going to be the only one to be able to do any good."
"What about Vicki?" Ric asked, dusting himself off as he started to dig through another box.